Reel carrier



' Nov. 13, 1923. 1,473,678

J. A. HOLMQUIST REEL CARRIER Filed April 24, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 13, 1923.

J. A. HOLMQUIST REEL CARRIER Filed April 24, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ham.

VIIIIIIII/IIII/fl l/V/TNESSES Patented Nov. 13, 1923.

JOHN A. HOLMQUIST, OF WOODLAWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

REEL CARRIER.

Application filed April 24, 1923. Serial No. 634,337.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, JoHN A. HoLMouIsr,

residing at vVoodlawn, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improve ments in Reel Carriers, of which Improvements the following is a specification.

-My invention'relates to machinery for reeling wire and 7 other material. In Letters Patent of the United States, No. 1,375,844, granted me April 26, 1921, I have described a reel, itself formed of wire, designed for receiving and carrying in a bundle suitable for the market, wire, and particularly barbed wire, now commonly used for fencing.

The reel of this earlier patent of mine is,

as I have said, itself formed of wire, and

it is strong to secure and carry the coil or bundle of wire when wrapped upon it. It is not, however, strong alone to resist compression and constrictive strain exerted in wrapping the wire in a coiled bundle upon it, and was not intended to stand such strain without reenforcement; it was intended to be carried during the wrapping operation upon a core,-and then, when filled, to be separated from the core upon which it had been sustained. My present invention concerns a core adapted to receive and carry such a reel as is in my prior patent described, and to reenforce it during the operation of coiling wire upon it; this core is finally adapted to allow separation from it of the filled reel. 1

It will of course be understood that intrinsically there is nothing about this mecha' nism which limits it to service for bundling barbed'wire, nor even for' bundling wire. It is applicable in the coiling of any elongate material, but finds immediate application in the ooilingof barbed wire. In that application I shall describe it. p

In the accompanyingdrawings Fig. I is ,a view inside elevation of the twisting and coiling apparatus ofa barbed wire machine, in which apparatus my invention is embodied. Fig. II is a view to larger scale and in medial and longitudinal section of the reel in place in its carrier, the carrier forming part of the apparatus shown in Fig. I, and being the part in which my present invention centers. Fig. III is a view in end elevation of the carrier (as seen from the left, F ig. II); Fig. IV is a view in transverse section, on the plane indicated by the line IV-IV, Fig. II. Fig. V is a view in perspective, and to still larger scale of a certain wedge block which temporarily secures the parts in position for coiling.

Reference to the drawings of the patent mentioned, No. 1,875,844, will show that the reel is a skeleton structure, formed of heavy wire; its two ends are essentially cross-shaped, its body is formed by four lengths of wire which extend in parallelism and define an essentially square body. That is to say, on a transverse section, the four wires would appear, relatively placed at the four corners of a square. Examining these drawings more closely, it will appear that the reel ends, shaped as they are of wire and of skeleton formation, are open in the planes defined by two adjacent wires of the body portion of the reel. Stated in other words, and with Fig. I of the patent particularly in view, it will be remarked that the plane defined by the two lengths of wire to which the numerals 1 are immediately applied, being projected, passes through an open space in the reel end, through the space lying between the points to which the refer ence letters small a are applied. And it will be observed that, in consequence of this structural feature, this reel might he slipped endwise to place upon and again removed from parallel posts of proper size properly placed. This characteristic adapts this particular reel to the carrier of my present invention, in the particular form in which I here show and describe it, or rather the apparatus of my present invention is particularly adapted to that reel.

Referring now to Figs. II, III, and IV, the carrier will be found to consist of opposite heads, which conveniently take the form of round plates or disks 1 and 2 and of a body composed of opposite posts in the form here of two parallel plates 3. These partsare made of ordinary steel plate. The plates 3 are rigidly united, as by riveting, to one of the heads (the head 1), while to them the opposite head is removably secured.

The proportions will be sufliciently defined by remarking that a reel R such as that described in my Patent No. 1,375,844 is in these drawings shown to be in place upon the reel. The mode of assembly will be understood at a glance. When a reel is to be applied to this carrier the removable able by the following head 2 is taken away, and the reel is slipped to place upon the opposed plates 3 (see par ticularly Fig. IV). The head 2 is then applied again and secured in place. The wire is coiled on the reel, now reenforced for coiling. hen the coiling is completed, and the bundle is so made up, and when the free end of the wrapped-on wire has been secured, the head 2 is removed, and the reel with the wire now wrapped upon it to form a bundle is slipped from the plates The head 2 of the carrier is made removparticular construction. The plates 3 at that end are prolonged in spindles 4; these spindles are slotted with transverse slots elongate in the direction of the axis of" the carrier. The head 2 is perforate for the extension through it to these slotted spindles, and a wedge block 5 is pro vi ded, whose tapering ,arms entering the slots in the spindles rsecure the head 2 when it has been applied, to its position on plates 3. The construction in these respects will be fully understood on comparing Figs. II, III, and V. T

It remains to explain how the carrier so built is adapted to be mounted in and form part of a barbed wire machine. First of all, the opposite heads 1 and 2 are centrally'perfol-ate, that the carrier may be journalled for free turning upon a spindle 6. Second, one head, preferably the head 1 is'provided externally with lugs 7 with which a lug 8 borne by the bevel-gear wheel 9 may make engagement. Third, the carrier is provided with end thrust bearing surfaces, adapting it for assembly; Such bearing surfaces are afforded at one end by the central block 10, and at the other end bythe bridge plate 11 which extends (to the left, as seen in Fig. II) beyond the ends of spindlesl.

The wedge block 5 is advantageously provided with a tongue 12 which in assembly extends beneath the bridge plate 11. It is perforate, for the passage through of spindle 6, and, in order to allow for adjustment, the perforation will be of somewhat greater diameter than the spindle. i

The assembly willbe understood on examination of Fig. I. The carrier with a reel in place upon it, as shown in Figs. II, III, and IV, is, spindle 6 being removed, slipped to place in the rotatable twisting and coiling frame 13 of a barbed wire machine, and between the gear wheel 9 and the block 1&,borne by the opposite frame arms. The spindle is then slipped to place, pinning the carrier position.

The details of barbed wire machinery are not further involved in disclosure of my present invention, than tdremark that in operatiodth frame 13 rotates on its axis -1), and that, as it rotates, the carrier of my invention with the reel borne by it is, through gear wheel 9 rotated on spindle 6.

Two strands of wire, upon one or both of which barbs have. been coiled, advance through an axial opening at one end of frame 13 and 'b frame rotation these strands are twister one upon the other and by reel rotation the twisted and finished article is laid down upon the reel.

When'a carrier with a reel in place upon it has in the manner already described been introduced into the frame 13 and there secured by the insertion of spindle 6, the free end of the barbed-wire remaining after cutting away the last reel-full is caught about one of the wires of reel R. The machine which had been stopped for the removal of the last full reel is now a ain set in motion. 7 2D The frame 13 rotates on its axis; and the carrier and the reel R borne by the carrier rotate upon their transversely extending axis. As the carrier rotates upon its axis, it draws the wire into the frame and coils it upon the reel, which at the time is reenforced by the plates 3. The simultaneous rotation of the carrier upon the axis a-Z of the frame, effects the twisting together of the strands which make up the barbed wire.

In preparing the reel for mounting on the carrier it is desirable to bend back the arms of the cross which forms each head, to be sure that these arms will 'lie snug against the heads of the carrier, and so the barbed wire which is being coiled will not accidentally gain entrance between the head of the reel and the head of the carrier.

Then a reel is by machine operation fully laden, the material is cut and the end secured. Spindle 6 is then driven out and the released carrier comes away. The wedgeblock 5 is then removed and thehead 2 is taken away from the carrier. The reel with its burden of coiled-on wire is then slipped from the carrier, and the carrier is ready to receive a fresh empty reel.

The bundle may be further secured for the market by tying together opposite arms of the heads ofthe reel with strands of wire overlying the bundle.

As I remarked at the beginning, the carrier is adaptedto sustain the reel while receiving material of any sort.

V I claim as my invention: V

1. A carrier for a reel consisting of opposite heads centrally perforate, opposite parall'el plates constituting the carrier body, se

cured at one end to one of said heads and at the other end terminating in slotted spindies, the other head being further perforate for the extension through of the spindles upon said plates, and a wedge block adapted to enter the slots in said spindles and secure the removable head to place when applied, the fixed head being adapted externally for engagement by rotating means, and the re movable head being provided externally with an end thrust bearing surface disposed at a greater distance from the general surface of the head than the distance to which the spindles after assembly protrude.

2. A carrier for a reel consisting of opposite heads centrally perforate, opposite parallel compression-resisting posts constituting the carrier body and to which at one end one of said heads is secured, the said posts being at their opposite ends slotted the other head being further perforate for the passage of the slotted ends of said posts and being by virtue of that fact applicable to and removable from said posts, such removable head being further provided externally with a perforate bridge-plate. extending at a spaced interval from the general surface of the head and at a greater interval than that through which the slotted post ends protrude from the removable head when the parts are assembled, and a pronged wedgeblock adapted to enter the slots in the ends of said posts and thereby lock the parts in assembled position, said wedge block being further provided with a perforate tongue adapted when the parts are assembled and the wedge-block is in place, to underlie the said perforate bridge-plate.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN A. HOLMQUIST.

Witnesses:

ELMER N. SANDERS, W. R. FRQPEL. 

